In this chapter we have, I. The peaceable times
Israel enjoyed under the government of two judges, Tola and Jair,
ver. 1-5. II. The
troublesome times that ensued. 1. Israel's sin that brought them
into trouble, ver. 6. 2.
The trouble itself they were in, ver. 7-9. III. Their repentance and
humiliation for sin, their prayers and reformation, and the mercy
they found with God thereupon, ver. 10-16. IV. Preparation made for
their deliverance out of the hand of their oppressors, ver. 17, 18.

Government of Tola and Jair. (b. c. 1183.)

1 And after Abimelech there arose to defend
Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar;
and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. 2 And he judged
Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.
3 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel
twenty and two years. 4 And he had thirty sons that rode on
thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called
Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.
5 And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

Quiet and peaceable reigns, though the best
to live in, are the worst to write of, as yielding least variety of
matter for the historian to entertain his reader with; such were
the reigns of these two judges, Tola and Jair, who make but a small
figure and take up but a very little room in this history. But no
doubt they were both raised up of God to serve their country
in the quality of judges, not pretending, as Abimelech had done, to
the grandeur of kings, nor, like him, taking the honour they had to
themselves, but being called of God to it. 1. Concerning Tola it is
said that he arose after Abimelech to defend Israel, v. 1. After Abimelech had
debauched Israel by his wickedness, disquieted and disturbed them
by his restless ambition, and, by the mischiefs he brought on them,
exposed them to enemies from abroad, God animated this good man to
appear for the reforming of abuses, the putting down of idolatry,
the appeasing of tumults, and the healing of the wounds given to
the state by Abimelech's usurpation. Thus he saved them from
themselves, and guarded them against their enemies. He was of the
tribe of Issachar, a tribe disposed to serve, for he bowed his
shoulder to bear (Gen. xlix.
14, 15), yet one of that tribe is here raised up to
rule; for those that humble themselves shall be exalted. He bore
the name of him that was ancestor to the first family of that
tribe; of the sons of Issachar Tola was the first, Gen. xlvi. 13; Num. xxvi.
23. It signifies a worm, yet, being the name of
his ancestor, he was not ashamed of it. Though he was of Issachar,
yet, when he was raised up to the government, he came and dwelt in
Mount Ephraim, which was more in the heart of the country, that the
people might the more conveniently resort to him for judgment. He
judged Israel twenty-three years (v. 2), kept things in good order, but
did not any thing very memorable. 2. Jair was a Gileadite, so was
his next successor Jephthah, both of that half tribe of the tribe
of Manasseh which lay on the other side Jordan; though they seemed
separated from their brethren, yet God took care, while the honour
of the government was shifted from tribe to tribe and before it
settled in Judah, that those who lay remote should sometimes share
in it, putting more abundant honour on that part which
lacked. Jair bore the name of a very famous man of the same
tribe who in Moses's time was very active in reducing this country,
Num. xxxii. 41; Josh. xiii.
30. That which is chiefly remarkable concerning this
Jair is the increase and honour of his family: He had thirty
sons, v. 4. And,
(1.) They had good preferments, for they rode on thirty ass
colts; that is, they were judges itinerant, who, as deputies to
their father, rode from place to place in their several circuits to
administer justice. We find afterwards that Samuel made his sons
judges, though he could not make them good ones, 1 Sam. viii. 1-3. (2.) They had good
possessions, every one a city, out of those that were called, from
their ancestor of the same name with their father,
Havoth-jair—the villages of Jair; yet they are called
cities, either because those young gentlemen to whom they
were assigned enlarged and fortified them, and so improved them
into cities, or because they were as well pleased with their lot in
those country towns as if they had been cities compact together and
fenced with gates and bars. Villages are cities to a contented
mind.

Israel Oppressed by the
Ammonites. (b. c. 1161.)

6 And the children of Israel did evil again in
the sight of the Lord, and served
Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of
Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon,
and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. 7 And the anger
of the Lord was hot against Israel,
and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the
hands of the children of Ammon. 8 And that year they vexed
and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the
children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the
land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 Moreover
the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against
Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so
that Israel was sore distressed.

While those two judges, Tola and Jair,
presided in the affairs of Israel, things went well, but
afterwards,

I. Israel returned to their idolatry, that
sin which did most easily beset them (v. 6): They did evil again in the
sight of the Lord, from whom they were unaccountably bent to
backslide, as a foolish people and unwise. 1. They
worshipped many gods; not only their old demons Baalim and
Ashtaroth, which the Canaanites had worshipped, but, as if they
would proclaim their folly to all their neighbours, they served the
gods of Syria, Zidon, Moab, Ammon, and the Philistines. It looks as
if the chief trade of Israel had been to import deities from all
countries. It is hard to say whether it was more impious or
impolitic to do this. By introducing these foreign deities, they
rendered themselves mean and despicable, for no nation that had any
sense of honour changed their gods. Much of the wealth of Israel,
we may suppose, was carried out, in offerings to the temples of the
deities in the several countries whence they came, on which, as
their mother-churches, their temples in Israel were expected to own
their dependence; the priests and devotees of those sorry deities
would follow their gods, no doubt, in crowds into the land of
Israel, and, if they could not live in their own country, would
take root there, and so strangers would devour their
strength. If they did it in compliment to the neighbouring
nations, and to ingratiate themselves with them, justly were they
disappointed; for those nations which by their wicked arts they
sought to make their friends by the righteous judgments of God
became their enemies and oppressors. In quo quis peccat, in eo
punitur—Wherein a person offends, therein he shall be
punished. 2. They did not so much as admit the God of Israel to
be one of those many deities they worshipped, but quite cast him
off: They forsook the Lord, and served not him at all. Those
that think to serve both God and Mammon will soon come entirely to
forsake God, and to serve Mammon only. If God have not all the
heart, he will soon have none of it.

II. God renewed his judgments upon them,
bringing them under the power of oppressing enemies. Had they
fallen into the hands of the Lord immediately, they might
have found that his mercies were great; but God let them
fall into the hands of man, whose tender mercies are cruel.
He sold them into the hands of the Philistines that lay
south-west of Canaan, and of the Ammonites that lay north-east,
both at the same time; so that between those two millstones they
were miserably crushed, as the original word is (v. 8) for oppressed.
God had appointed that, if any of the cities of Israel should
revolt to idolatry, the rest should make war upon them and cut them
off, Deut. xiii. 12,
&c. They had been jealous enough in this matter, almost to an
extreme, in the case of the altar set up by the two tribes and a
half (Josh. xxii.); but
now they had grown so very bad that when one city was infected with
idolatry the next took the infection and instead of punishing it,
imitated and out-did it; and therefore, since those that should
have been revengers to execute wrath on those that did this
evil were themselves guilty, or bore the sword in
vain, God brought the neighbouring nations upon them, to
chastise them for their apostasy. The oppression of Israel by the
Ammonites, the posterity of Lot, was, 1. Very long. It continued
eighteen years. Some make those years to be part of the judgeship
of Jair, who could not prevail to reform and deliver Israel as he
would. Others make them to commence at the death of Jair, which
seems the more probable because that part of Israel which was most
infested by the Ammonites was Gilead, Jair's own country, which we
cannot suppose to have suffered so much while he was living, but
that part at least would be reformed and protected. 2. Very
grievous. They vexed them and oppressed them. It was a great
vexation to be oppressed by such a despicable people as the
children of Ammon were. They began with those tribes that lay next
them on the other side Jordan, here called the land of the
Amorites (v. 8)
because the Israelites had so wretchedly degenerated, and had made
themselves so like the heathen, that they had become, in a manner,
perfect Amorites (Ezek. xvi.
3), or because by their sin they forfeited their title
to this land, so that it might justly be looked upon as the land
of the Amorites again, from whom they took it. But by degrees
they pushed forward, came over Jordan, and invaded Judah, and
Benjamin, and Ephraim (v.
9), three of the most famous tribes of Israel, yet thus
insulted when they had forsaken God, and unable to make head
against the invader. Now the threatening was fulfilled that they
should be slain before their enemies, and should have no
power to stand before them, Lev. xxvi. 17, 37. Their ways and their
doings procure this to themselves; they have sadly degenerated,
and so they come to be sorely distressed.

The Repentance and Reformation of
Israel. (b. c. 1161.)

10 And the children of Israel cried unto the
Lord, saying, We have sinned against
thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served
Baalim. 11 And the Lord said
unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you
from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of
Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12 The Zidonians also, and
the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to
me, and I delivered you out of their hand. 13 Yet ye have
forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no
more. 14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let
them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. 15 And the
children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever
seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.
16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and
served the Lord: and his soul was
grieved for the misery of Israel. 17 Then the children of
Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the
children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in
Mizpeh. 18 And the people and princes of Gilead said
one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight
against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the
inhabitants of Gilead.

Here is, I. A humble confession which
Israel make to God in their distress, v. 10. Now they own themselves
guilty, like a malefactor upon the rack, and promise reformation,
like a child under the rod. They not only complain of the distress,
but acknowledge it is their own sin that has brought them into the
distress; therefore God is righteous, and they have no reason to
repine. They confess their omissions, for in them their sin
began—"We have forsaken our God," and their commissions—"We have
served Baalim, and herein have done foolishly, treacherously, and
very wickedly."

II. A humbling message which God thereupon
sends to Israel, whether by an angel (as ch. ii. 1) or by a prophet (as
ch. vi. 8) is not
certain. It was kind that God took notice of their cry, and did not
turn a deaf ear to it and send them no answer at all; it was kind
likewise that when they began to repent he sent them such a message
as was proper to increase their repentance, that they might be
qualified and prepared for deliverance. Now in this message, 1. He
upbraids them with their great ingratitude, reminds them of the
great things he had done for them, delivering them from such and
such enemies, the Egyptians first, out of whose land they were
rescued, the Amorites whom they conquered and into whose land they
entered, and since their settlement there, when the Ammonites had
joined with the Moabites to oppress them (ch. iii. 13), when the Philistines
were vexatious in the days of Shamgar, and afterwards other enemies
had given them trouble, upon their petition God had wrought many a
great salvation for them, v. 11, 12. Of their being
oppressed by the Zidonians and the Maonites we read not elsewhere.
God had in justice corrected them, and in mercy delivered them, and
therefore might reasonably expect that either through fear or
through love they would adhere to him and his service. Well
therefore might the word cut them to the heart (v. 13), "Yet you have forsaken
me that have brought you out of your troubles and served
other gods that brought you into your troubles." Thus did they
forsake their own mercies for their own delusions. 2.
He shows them how justly he might now abandon them to ruin, by
abandoning them to the gods that they had served. To awaken
them to a thorough repentance and reformation, he lets them see,
(1.) Their folly in serving Baalim. They had been at a vast expense
to obtain the favour of such gods as could not help them when they
had most need of their help: "Go, and cry unto the gods which
you have chosen (v.
14), try what they can do for you now. You have
worshipped them as gods—try if they have now either a divine power
or a divine goodness to be employed for you. You paid your homage
to them as your kings and lords—try if they will now protect you.
You brought your sacrifices of praise to their altars as your
benefactors, imagining that they gave you your corn, and wine, and
oil, but a friend indeed will be a friend in need; what stead will
their favour stand you in now?" Note, It is necessary, in true
repentance, that there be a full conviction of the utter
insufficiency of all those things to help us and do us any kindness
which we have idolized and set upon the throne in our hearts in
competition with God. We must be convinced that the pleasures of
sense on which we have doted cannot be our satisfaction, nor the
wealth of the world which we have coveted be our portion, that we
cannot be happy or easy any where but in God. (2.) Their misery and
danger in forsaking God. "See what a pass you have brought
yourselves to; now you can expect no other than that I should say,
I will deliver you no more, and what will become of you
then?" v. 13. This
he tells them, not only as what he might do, but as what he
would do if they rested in a confession of what they had
done amiss, and did not put away their idols and amend for the
future.

III. A humble submission which Israel
hereupon made to God's justice, with a humble application to his
mercy, v. 15.
The children of Israel met together, probably in a solemn
assembly at the door of the tabernacle, received the impressions of
the message God had sent them, were not driven by it to despair,
though it was very threatening, but resolve to lie at God's feet,
and, if they perish, they will perish there, and you can find
more about that here on
st-takla.org on other commentaries and
dictionary entries. They not only repeat
their confession, We have sinned, but, 1. They surrender
themselves to God's justice: Do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth
good unto thee. Hereby they own that they deserved the severest
tokens of God's displeasure and were sure he could do them no
wrong, whatever he laid upon them; they humbled themselves under
his mighty and heavy hand, and accepted of the punishment of
their iniquity, which Moses had made the condition of God's
return in mercy to them, Lev. xxvi.
41. Note, True penitents dare and will refer themselves
to God to correct them as he thinks fit, knowing that their sin is
highly malignant in its deserts, and that God is not rigorous or
extreme in his demands. 2. They supplicate for God's mercy:
Deliver us only, we pray thee, this day, from this enemy.
They acknowledge what they deserved, yet pray to God not to deal
with them according to their deserts. Note, We must submit to God's
justice with a hope in his mercy.

IV. A blessed reformation set on foot
hereupon. They brought forth fruits meet for repentance (v. 16): They put away the
gods of strangers (as the word is), strange gods, and
worshipped by those nations that were strangers to the commonwealth
of Israel and to the covenants of promise, and they served the
Lord. Need drove them to him. They knew it was to no purpose to
go to the gods whom they had served, and therefore returned to the
God whom they had slighted. This is true repentance not only for
sin, but from sin.

V. God's gracious return in mercy to them,
which is expressed here very tenderly (v. 16): His soul was grieved for
the misery of Israel. Not that there is any grief in God (he
has infinite joy and happiness in himself, which cannot be broken
in upon by either the sins or the miseries of his creatures), nor
that there is any change in God: he is in one mind, and who can
turn him? But his goodness is his glory. By it he proclaims his
name, and magnifies it above all names; and, as he is pleased to
put himself into the relation of a father to his people that are in
covenant with him, so he is pleased to represent his goodness to
them by the compassions of a father towards his children; for, as
he is the Father of lights, so he is the Father of mercies. As the
disobedience and misery of a child are a grief to a tender father,
and make him feel very sensibly from his natural affection, so the
provocations of God's people are a grief to him (Ps. xcv. 10), he is broken with their
whorish heart (Ezek. vi.
9); their troubles also are a grief to him; so he is
pleased to speak when he is pleased to appear for the deliverance
of his people, changing his way and method of proceeding, as tender
parents when they begin to relent towards their children with whom
they have been displeased. Such are the tender mercies of our God,
and so far is he from having any pleasure in the death of
sinners.

VI. Things are now working towards their
deliverance from the Ammonites' oppression, v. 17, 18. God had said, "I will
deliver you no more;" but now they are not what they were, they are
other men, they are new men, and now he will deliver them. That
threatening was denounced to convince and humble them, and, now
that it had taken its desired effect, it is revoked in order to
their deliverance. 1. The Ammonites are hardened to their own ruin.
They gathered together in one body, that they might be destroyed at
one blow, Rev. xvi. 16. 2.
The Israelites are animated to their own rescue. They assembled
likewise, v. 17.
During their eighteen years' oppression, as in their former
servitudes, they were run down by their enemies, because they would
not incorporate; each family, city, or tribe, would stand by
itself, and act independently, and so they all became an easy prey
to the oppressors, for want of a due sense of a common interest to
cement them: but, whenever they got together, they did well; so
they did here. When God's Israel become as one man to advance a
common good and oppose a common enemy what difficulty can stand
before them? The people and princes of Gilead, having met, consult
first about a general that should command in chief against the
Ammonites. Hitherto most of the deliverers of Israel had an
extraordinary call to the office, as Ehud, Barak, Gideon; but the
next is to be called in a more common way, by a convention of the
states, who enquired out a fit man to command their army, found out
one admirably well qualified for the purpose, and God owned their
choice by putting his Spirit upon him (ch. xi. 29); so that this instance is
of use for direction and encouragement in after-ages, when
extraordinary calls are no longer to be expected. Let such be
impartially chosen to public trust and power as God has qualified,
and then God will graciously own those who are thus chosen.